THE SHE KING; OR, THE BOOK OF ANCIENT POETRY

338 THE BOOK OF POETKY. [PART IIL
5 Among the people flies the word:—
"What's soft men swallow fast;
And what is for the teeth too hard
Out of their mouths they cast."
But never yet did mortal trace
In Chung Shan such ignoble case;—
Nor soft nor hard he knows.
The strong and fierce he does not dread;
And on the poor or widowed head
Insult he never throws.
6 Again the people often say:—
" Virtue is very light,—
Light as a hair; yet few can bear
The burden of its weight."
JTis so; but Chung Shan, as I think,
Needs not from virtue's weight to shrink,
That other men defies.
Aid from my love his strength rejects.
If the king's measures have defects,
What's needed he supplies.
7 He asks the Spirit of the path
His blessing to send down.
His steeds are strong; each soldier hath
A bravery like his own.
Eastward they march; his charge is there.
That city's bulwarks to repair,
How ardently he hies !
List to the tinkling of his bells !
Of his steeds' constant tramp it tells;—
The walls will soon arise.
8 Yes, on to Ts'e the hero went,
With his four steeds so strong.
Their eight bells told his purpose bold;—
He'll not be absent long !
I, Yin Keih foo, this song now sing.
Like gentle breeze, 0 may it bring
To his unresting mind,
'Mid all his toils and cares, some cheer !
Yes, may our great Chung Shan find here
The comfort I designed !
III. VII.] THE BOOK OF POETRY. 339
VII.
The Earn yih; narrative. CELEBRATING THE MARQUIS OF HAN :—
HIS INVESTITURE AlfD THE KING'S CHARGE TO HIM ; THE GIFTS HK
RECEIVED, AND THE PARTING FEAST ; HIS MARRIAGE ; THE EXCEL
LENCE OF HIS TEEEITORY ; ' AND HIS SWAY OVEK THE REGIONS OF
THE NORTH.
This ode is also referred to the time of king Seuen. The Han which
is spoken of was a marquisate, held by Kes, sprung from one of the sons
of king Woo. After the time of king Seuen, it was extinguished by the
State of Tsin. and assigned to one of the ministers of that growing do
minion, who took the clan-name of Han. It subsequently, on the break
ing up of Tsin, after the Ch'un Ts'ew period, became one of the seven
great States into which the kingdom was divided,—of much larger di
mensions than the original marquisate of Han.
Heen-foo, in st. 3, must have been some noble and high minister, dele
gated by the king to preside at the parting feast to the marquis.
The king Pun, whose niece the marquis married, was Le, so styled from
the river Pun, which was near Che, where Le lived so long after he was
driven from the throne. Kwei-foo was a minister of the royal court, but
could hardly have been one of the feudal princes, for in that case his State
would have been mentioned. From the Chinese text of st. 5, we know
that his surname was K'eih,—the name, according to tradition, of one of
the sons of the mythical Hwang-te.
The bride was accompanied by a younger sister and a cousin,—virgins
from the harem of her father. Then two Houses of the same surname
sent, each, a young lady with a similar suite, to accompany her, so that
a feudal prince was said to marry nine ladies at once.
Yen was the State to which Shih, the duke K'ang of Shaou, was ap
pointed ; and it would appear that he had been entrusted with the charge
to build and fortify the capital of the principality of Han, just as we have
seen his descendant appointed to do the same duty for the new State of
Shin. The marquis of this piece had a wider jurisdiction given to him
over the regions of tlie north, to extend among them the authority of the
dynasty of Chow.
Grand is the guardian hill of Han !
There the great Yu his work began,
The land from wreck to save.
Thence to the capital there leads
A noble road. See there the steeds
That draw Han's lord, as he proceeds
Investiture to crave.
Called now his father's seat to fill,
He goes to hear the royal will.
To him the king thus said:—
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